NEW YORK: Turkey told the UN Security Council on Tuesday it had shot down an unidentified plane that violated Turkish airspace and defended its right to do so as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Turkey and Russia to reduce tensions.

Russia has accused Turkey of shooting down one of its fighter jets nearly a mile inside Syria, and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of “serious consequences.”

He called the attack “a stab in the back from the accomplices of terrorism,” saying the plane was operating over Syria and targeting terrorist groups. He said Russia “won’t tolerate such crimes” but stopped short of threatening any military response against Turkey, which is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, warning only of “serious consequences” for bilateral ties.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a trip to Turkey planned for Wednesday and recommended citizens avoid traveling there, citing the threat of terrorism in a country that millions of Russian tourists visit every year.

A Turkish official said the two pilots who ejected from the jet are believed to be alive and Turkish authorities are seeking to recover them. “Turkey has information that the two pilots are alive and right now Turkey is trying to recover them,” the official said.

However, rebel and opposition sources said one Russian pilot was killed by rebels and the second is missing after they both parachuted.

The sources told AFP that the first pilot of the downed warplane was killed by opposition forces who shot at him as he landed after ejecting.

Several videos circulating online and shared on opposition social media sites purported to show the dead pilot surrounded by rebels from different factions.

A Russian helicopter was also blown up by rebels following an emergency landing in government-held territory after it was damaged by rebel fire, but its crew was able to escape, a monitor said.

The US military backed up Turkey’s claim that Turkish pilots had warned the Russian jet 10 times — but failed to get a response — before shooting it down. “We were able to hear everything that was going on, these (communications) were on open channels,” Baghdad-based military spokesman Col. Steve Warren said in a video call with reporters.

Asked if he could confirm reports 10 warnings were issued by Turkish pilots without response, Warren said: “I can confirm that, yes.”

In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov just said “there is no official information” about the fate of the pilots from the downed plane.